Commerce talks between the US and the European Union have didn’t get off the bottom — and key sticking factors are the large fines and taxes the bloc continues to impose on American tech giants, The Submit has realized.
Talking on the sidelines on the Milken Institute International Convention in Los Angeles, Trump administration officers informed The Submit that talks with Brussels have been stalled as a result of the EU is refusing to again down on the White Home’s demand to scrap the gargantuan levies.
In consequence, negotiators from each side are nonetheless hunkered down in Washington DC, thrashing out the preliminary “parameters” of what topics might be on the desk for dialogue, sources briefed on the matter informed The Submit.
Late final month, Apple and Meta had been slapped with fines totaling $800 million for violating the European Union’s new competitors regulation that goals to curb the ability of Large Tech.
As solely reported by The Submit, the penalties had been saved comparatively modest versus earlier fines in what might have been a bid to attenuate commerce tensions with the Trump administration. Nonetheless, sources mentioned Trump officers need them reversed altogether.
A number of EU international locations, together with France, Spain, and Italy, additionally impose what is called a digital gross sales taxes, sometimes a 3% levy on revenues from digital promoting, knowledge gross sales, and on-line platforms for firms with world revenues exceeding 750 million euros ($853 million).
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used a short handle at an unique gathering on the Milken convention earlier this week to lash out on the 27-nation bloc’s protectionist stance, accusing them of shaking down US companies.
“The thing that we have discovered doing this is that Europe uses fines, mostly on US internet companies, as a kind of tariff,” the 63-year-old hedge fund mogul informed a reception organized by DC consultancy Tactic International.
Anders Visitien, a Danish lawmaker within the European Parliament, backed Bessent, slamming the fines as “a blatant EU attempt at a cash grab.”
One senior EU diplomat informed The Submit of their “frustration” over the impasse, insisting that the heavy levies on tech titans that irked President Trump are right here to remain.
“In spite of the fact that we’ve made this point repeatedly, it doesn’t seem to have fully landed with the United States,” the diplomat mentioned.
“We are not going to move on digital or food and health standards. We don’t consider those to be up for negotiation.”
However one supply near Treasury Secretary Bessent warned the EU to not overplay its hand and that Trump was prepared to stroll away with out a deal.
“This administration literally has zero f—s to give about Europe,” the supply mentioned.
Spokespeople for the US Treasury and US Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer didn’t reply to The Submit’s request to remark.
A Submit evaluation of open-source EU knowledge exhibits that the European Fee, the EU govt that negotiates commerce coverage on behalf of its 27 members, has imposed simply over $20 billion in fines on main US tech companies.
The most important-ever EU tech high quality was a $4.5 billion penalty in opposition to Google in 2018 after regulators accused the agency of abusing its dominant market place to squeeze out search engine rivals.
Official knowledge exhibits that the US imported $605.8 billion value of products from the EU, whereas exporting $370.2 billion.
It leaves a commerce deficit of $235.6 billion, a 12.9% improve from 2023, and means extra money is leaving the nation to pay for EU imports than is coming in from exports.
Officers on the European Fee draft the legal guidelines of the bloc’s so-called single market that enables items, companies, cash, and folks to maneuver freely throughout its borders as if it had been one nation.
However they’ve been reluctant up to now to carve out beneficiant exceptions for nations that sit exterior the membership.
The US at the moment applies a ten% baseline tariff on practically all EU items, down from an preliminary 20% “reciprocal” tariff introduced by Trump within the Rose Backyard on his so-called ‘Liberation Day’.
There are additionally separate 25% tariffs that concentrate on EU metal, aluminum, automobiles, and automobile components, however Brussels has not but retaliated.
It comes because the European Fee drew up a contemporary blueprint earlier this week for a string of “punishment” tariffs on American items if no deal is struck.
The duties on US automobiles, meals merchandise, and components made by aerospace big Boeing will snap into impact if talks fail earlier than the 90-day commerce ceasefire referred to as by the White Home involves an finish in July.
The charges haven’t but been disclosed, however they are going to goal commerce value simply over $110 billion.
